Oregon Project: Integrating monitoring, modeling, and management for amphibian conservation in the western United States

Oregon Project

Integrating monitoring, modeling, and management for amphibian conservation in the western United States

June 2017 - September 2021

Personnel

Participating Agencies

ARMI program
USGS ARMI Program

Amphibians play an important role in ecosystems, providing a critical link in the food web across aquatic and terrestrial habitats and used as indicator species to gauge overall ecosystem health. However, there is an accumulation of evidence that amphibian communities are facing global declines in abundance and diversity. Although these declines are related to a suite of interrelated factors, habitat modification is the most implicated source of amphibian declines. The strong link between habitat modification and loss of amphibians is probably related to the complex life cycle of amphibians, where individuals rely on both aquatic and terrestrial habitats to meet life history demands. We are developing a framework for integrating information from monitoring, remote sensing, and research to better information managers in the Pacific Northwest.

Research Publications

Research Publications	Publication Date
Rowe, J.C., A. Duarte, C.C. Pearl, B. McCreary, S. Galvan, J.T.Peterson, M.J. Adams. 2019. Disentangling effects of invasive species and habitat while accounting for observer error in a long-term amphibian study. Ecosphere	August 2019
Duarte, A., J.T. Peterson, C.A. Pearl, J.C. Rowe, B. McCreary , S.K. Galvan, and M.J. Adams. 2020. Estimation of metademographic rates and landscape connectivity for a conservation-reliant anuran. Landscape Ecology 35: 1459–1479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01030-8 \| Abstract	April 2020	<i>Context </i>Amphibian conservation efforts commonly assume populations are tied to waterbodies that collectively function as a metapopulation. This assumption is rarely evaluated, and there is a need to understand the degree of connectivity among patches to appropriately define, manage, and conserve biological populations. <br><i> </i><br><i>Objectives </i>Our objectives were to quantify local persistence, colonization, and recruitment (metademographic rates) in relation to habitat attributes, evaluate the influence of the spatial arrangement of patches on landscape-scale population dynamics, and estimate the scale at which metapopulation dynamics are occurring for Oregon spotted frog (<i>Rana pretiosa</i>).<br><i> </i><br><i>Methods </i>We collected <i>R. pretiosa</i> detection/non-detection data and habitat information from 93 sites spread throughout the species’ core extant range in Oregon, USA, 2010–2018. We developed a spatial multistate dynamic occupancy model to analyze these data.<br><i> </i><br><i>Results </i>Results indicated the proportion of sites occupied by <i>R. pretiosa</i> was relatively stable despite regular turnover in site occupancy. <i>Rana pretiosa</i> were likely to colonize a site if it was within 4.49–7.70 km, and <i>R. pretiosa</i> populations within 1 km are at the appropriate spatial scale for effective population management. <i>Rana pretiosa</i> metademographic rates were strongly tied to water availability, vegetation characteristics, and beaver dams.<br><i> </i><br><i>Conclusions </i>Our analysis provides critical information to identify the appropriate spatial scale for effective population management, estimates the distance at which populations are connected, and quantifies the effects of hypothesized threats to species at a landscape scale. We believe this model will prove to be useful to inform conservation and management strategies for multiple species.
Duarte, A., C.A. Pearl, M.J. Adams, and J.T. Peterson. A new parameterization for integrated population models to document amphibian reintroduction efforts. Ecological Applications.	July 2017

Presentations

Presentations	Presentation Date
Duarte, A. and J.Peterson. 2020. The role of optimization in solving decision-support models for natural resource management. Annual Meeting of the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, March 4-6, Bend, OR.	March 2020

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Oregon Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Oregon Project

Integrating monitoring, modeling, and management for amphibian conservation in the western United States

June 2017 - September 2021

Personnel

Participating Agencies

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Oregon
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources